Menopause Moment and a Full Moon

I normally don't post on the weekends, but since it's 2:30 in the morning and I'm up, what the heck. It's officially October 28th and our 29th Wedding Anniversary.  Steve and I are still going strong after all these years.  It's the subtle little things that happen between us that let us know we still mesh.  Before I sat down here to do a post, I went in and filled hubby's water glass he keeps beside the bed. He woke up long enough to look at me and say, "Thanks dearie".  That's one of the reasons why I love this guy so much! The little things. In the morning he's off to Detroit as his beloved Seahawks are playing the Lions and this only happens  in Detroit every 6 or 7 years.  I will be staying home as I just don't want to leave Freddie for a whole day.  I worry too much and then it's not enjoyable.  So I will use the time to prepare a romantic dinner for when hubby gets home and maybe get some crocheting done.

Back to my menopause moment.  I'm up, I take the hounds out to pee and I see we have a full moon.  The hounds come in and do this........

 I took these without the flash because I didn't want to wake the babies.

I grab my camera and head out front in my housecoat and slippers and take pictures of this beautiful moon. Sometimes I do wonder what the neighbors think if they see these flashes at 2:00 a.m.

I really like these two with our tree branches.

This one just looks like it's holding the moon.

I didn't know we were going to have a full moon tonight. I don't know much about this full moon so I will have to head over to Remington's RRC and see what I can find out.  He usually has all the information on these full moons.

As for my menopause keeping me up, I'm trying to look at the positive aspect.  If I wasn't up right now I would have missed this beautiful full moon and if it wasn't for hot flashes I wouldn't have this dewy glow! LOL!

Well, I'm off to catch up on some blog reading. :)

Monday Mischief - The Decision

There's been lots of panic attacks and lots of tears this past week over Fred's prognosis. It's been very emotional. Lots of you have asked if there is anything that can be done. There are three options for hip dysplasia.  Total hip replacement for severe arthritic hips (Fred's) but very expensive, removal of the femoral head and neck where scar tissue then forms to provide a cushion in the joint (done on dogs who are around 30 lbs. and not recommended for heavier dogs which eliminates Fred) and the pain management, which is what we are doing now. 

All this depressing talk about poor Fred really started to get to him.

"For gosh sakes Momma! I wish you guys would snap out of it!"  "I'm not dead yet. I feel like singing!" 

(Fred's take on Monty Python's "The Holy Grail")

So Fred came to me with a plan.  Apparently him and Gloria had both been up to some mischief and came up with this.......

The save Freddie Fund.

"It was my idea Momma. You know Freddie's no good at crafts."
  

They gathered up all there pennies they had saved for treats (Since Canada is doing away with our penny anyway) and brought them to me.

"We're exhausted!  We've been up all night counting pennies Momma."

So our decision was made. We put Freddie's jar on the counter and every time we feel like getting a "Tim's" coffee.... into the jar instead.  Going to see the Detroit Lions in Detroit...... into the jar instead. The movies or take-out........into the jar instead. Shopping.....(gulp!)...into the jar instead.  There are lots of places we can cut back and save, and cut back we will. We are going for total hip replacement. We'll hopefully have one done and then go from there.  Our family just isn't ready to give up on Freddie yet! We've had enough loss in our lives for awhile. Fred's my baby and if him and Gloria can give up their treat money, so can we.  We just hope we have enough time to save up the funds needed.  I have discussed it with our vet who is looking into a good surgeon and total cost.  He says we should have months. There will be a referral and then a consultation to see if Freddie is a candidate and how soon it should be done.
    

Sometimes I feel so bad thinking that all the whining Freddie has does when he's resting that has earned him the name Mr. Dramatica, has probably been because when he lays down his hips just ache.  The vet said he has probably tolerated it so well because that is all he has known.

So for now we have a plan.  We keep walking Fred (I just cringe when we go as his hips just clunk the whole time) to keep the muscles built up so they don't atrophy and hopefully by next summer or fall, Freddie will be the new and improved Robo-Fred!
All of your thoughts and prayers have helped us greatly.  Please keep up the POTP going for Freddie and wish us luck!
Unlike KB's sweet K from Romping and Rolling in the Rockies, Freddie can be fixed but we have learned from KB and K to take it one day, better yet, one moment at a time.

(KB has had some scary health issues with R and could use the POP for him right now too! )

Fred does seem to like all the attention right now.

His sister Brandi brought him a new stuffed monkey last week and he hasn't even chewed it to bits!

Freddie can now rest easy knowing that hopefully he will have many, many more happy years with his family!

"Whew!"

And I can't believe I got my camera back from Nikon after only two weeks. Flash fixed, no charge. Yay! I can't thank them enough for their fast service! I think I had gone into photography withdrawal.

Now I can take all the pictures of Fred and Gloria I want again. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Hmmm....I Think Fred's Feeling Better

Okay, you can't expect me to be wordless, I've been without the internet for 4 1/2 days!! My new modem arrived and well, you know it wasn't going to be just an easy "hook it up and go" set-up.  No of course it had to involve being on the phone with a technician to work through the issues.  But it's over now and I'm free to blog and pin ('cause I'm officially addicted to Pinterest now) like crazy!

You don't realize just how much you depend on the internet until you don't have access anymore.  Between having no internet and camera, I think I was in severe withdrawal! lol
  

Freddie really seems to be getting better.  I first noticed it when we got home from the Detroit Lions home opener game on Sunday night.  He was actually wagging his tail and played outside with Gloria.  It was only for about 10 minutes, but that's the first he's played or even wagged his tail since the beginning of August! His body isn't hot and red anymore.  Just his feet are red and his eyes are still a little swelled and yucky and he's still itchy.  But not like he was.  I kept saying I just wanted him back to his normal "little bugger" self.  Well, he is!

I took this picture this morning.  That's just another recipe I should have copied into my book.

All these pictures are with my new camera.  It's a small Nikon Coolpix I bought last weekend.  My good camera has been sent back to Nikon under warranty as the flash shorted out.  It sounded like firecrackers going off when I tried to take a picture.  Not good.  So it could be weeks or I'm sure months, before I see that camera again and I had to have one by Sunday as the football game was going to be a very special one and I wanted pictures.  I was going to meet a blogger friend at the game during half time!

So Sunday after 2 1/2 hours on the 401 and stopping at every On Route to pee.

'Cause that's just the way it is when you get older. Travelling is all about timing your pee breaks.

We made it to the tunnel.

I'm still nervous going through the tunnel but I just try not to think about the water that you see seeping in some of the cracks.

Half an hour later we were in the stadium...

and I was posing with Roary.

I was anxious waiting for half time so I could stand in front of the Pro Shop and wait to meet that special blogger friend.

The stadium was packed and I was nervous wondering if we could really find each other in all these thousands of people.  But we did. 

Standing outside the Pro Shop in a sea of people I heard "Janet? Janet is that you!"

And there she was.

My blogger friend.
Yep,

It's Caren from Cat Chat with Caren and Cody and Dakota's Den!!   What a wonderful, beautiful woman!  I was so happy to finally meet her in person.  It felt like I'd known her forever and we could have talked for hours!  We chatted a little past half time. Then we said our goodbyes, hugged and went back to our seats to join our husbands for the second half of the game.  I am still in awe!  It was just so exciting to meet her in person!  Caren, your the best!

So, Freddie's getting better, I have another camera for pictures, I finally met Caren and my internet is back just in time for me to display my new backpack that Sarge's Momma made for me for the back to school bash!! If you want to see all the cool back packs just pop over to Sarge's blog.

What a great job!  It is so me. :)

All is right with the world.........for now.

Queue music................

"Stop the music! STOP THE MUSIC!!"

"What am I Momma?  Chopped liver?!"

"Oh, right.  Sorry Gloria."
"And Gloria did this"

Queue music...................

And yes, the Lions won! Yay!







Sports Fans Can Be Nasty!

Now that football season is upon us. Fred and Gloria have switched from their collars that they won from our friend Sugar, to their football collars.  Freddie is wearing his Detroit Lions collar and Gloria is wearing her Seattle Seahawks collar.

Before I go any further, I have to say to my hubby Steve, if your at work reading this stop....don't go any further.  You won't like what you see.  You've been warned. 

Tonight Freddie will sit in my chair his chair and watch the Lions play the Baltimore Ravens........

 .........while Gloria takes her spot on the Seahawks side of the room with her father.

As you can see, she's never really into the game. Actually, I think she looks a little embarrassed when she's on that side of the room.

But this morning Freddie did something horrible.  At first I didn't think I was going to be able to talk about it.  I don't want us Lions fans getting a bad reputation like some of those other fans out there.  But it has to be told.  After his Dad left for work this morning Fred ran downstairs and came up shaking and chewing this.

Steve's one and only Seattle Seahawks towel! It's one of the first Seattle Seahawks things I bought him and it's their original logo and colors.  Now I've said before that Fred actually doesn't chew the things he steals anymore he just lays on them, but as you can see in the right hand corner, he chewed a hole in it.  Myself, I think he was just getting himself pumped for tonight's game.  That's what preseason is isn't it?  For practice?

Oh my, what's Freddie going to be like when the Lions actually play the Seahawks in October!!

Monday Mischief - Not Here!

There wasn't a whole lot of mischief around our house on the weekend.  We had a very late night Friday night as our date night consisted of driving down to Detroit to watch the Detroit Lions first pre-season game against the Cleveland Browns.  It's the first pre-season I have  been to with Steve. My daughter and her kids came over to hound sit Fred and Gloria.

Gloria loved all the attention. But as usual the kids hid from Freddie.

"Eeek!  Look out Emma!  It's a big bad, vicious basset hound! "

Fred tried to act like he was just bored by the whole ordeal.

"Yawn"

"Yeah, yeah.  Whatever...I didn't want to play with you anyways!"

I love the whole atmosphere when we go, but this was a late game and it didn't start until 7:30 p.m. so it wasn't over until 10:45 p.m.  Which means that we didn't even get home until just about 2:00 a.m.  By the time we got the dogs outside for a bit, then got them all settled around again and  got something to eat it was well after 3:00 a.m. before we got to bed.  This was the first and only late football game I will go to.   It was just too long of a day for me. The bad news....the Lions lost to the Browns 19-17.  The good news.........

......I got to wear my new Nate Burleson jersey!

Saturday we had to have Fred and Gloria to our vets by 9:00 a.m. for their yearly shots so we were all pretty tired. Their check-ups went fine and  I love the new rabies tag they got.  They have started a new program in Canada where on the back of your rabies tag is a website called getmehome.ca.  You go and register your pet on-line with their tag number and micro- chip number, if the they have it.  You put in all your contact information and if your pet is lost they just check the number on the tag to find their owners.  I love this.  The more ways to help get a lost pet home the better!

I  love that this is a free service provided with your rabies tag.

Sunday we attended my our nieces engagement party and luckily the rain held off and the weather and the party turned out beautifully.  Congratulations again Ami and Adam!

Today I am behind and just trying to catch up as it was such a busy weekend.  My daughter came over to help me get Fred in the tub as he has been itching and chewing like crazy.  I think he got into something last week as he's been itching ever since we caught him in the flower bed.   Gloria just hung around the bathroom howling the whole time we bathed Fred.  After Fred's bath they both conked out.

Awwwwe!  doesn't Freddie look nice and shiny after his bath.  He smells nice too!  So I guess the only mischief here is me getting my mischief post up so late!

Happy Monday everyone!

Hot, Hot, Hot and Hot

Yes, I have four kinds of hot to talk about. Hopefully this post doesn't seem to long, but we start our two weeks holidays tomorrow and I probably won't be posting much, if at all until after holidays. I will try to get around to visit blogs when I get a chance or am up at night (like now) unable to sleep. Oh, don't worry I'm not going to go into the whole menopause thingy again. ( I think I just did! hee,hee) I also want to stay on top of the events of the Blogville Olympics when they start on July 27th.  

Hot #1 - An Award

Our friend Daisy over at Everyday Adventures in  Havachon Heaven has given us the Blog on Fire Award.  We are truly honored to receive this award from Daisy.  Daisy is a Havachon and just the cutest little furball who is always up to some kind of mischief.  I had never heard of a Havachon until I met Daisy in Blogville.   So if you haven't met her yet, pop on over to Everyday Adventures in Havachon Heaven and see what she's up to!  I am breaking the rules on this one, so if you do want to see them just check them out when your visiting Daisy.

Thanks again Daisy!

Hot #2 - Asphalt

The next thing I wanted to say is that the noise has stopped!  They have finally paved our road.

Look at this bad boy.  They even carry their coolers around on it.

Loading it up with hot asphalt.  

Boy that's got to be hot work considering it was 100 degrees out the day they were doing it.

Ta Da!

The finished product.  Our street!

Hot#3 - Tickets

They're here..............

Yep, our Detroit Lions Season's Tickets arrived! I love the way they have a picture of one of the players on every ticket this year. You probably can't tell, but game 6 they play hubby's beloved Seahawks.  Boy we can't wait for that game.  It only happens about every 7 years.  Actually the Seattle Seahawks are playing the Buffalo Bills in Toronto in December this year too.

Hot #4 - Weather

Finally, with all this heat we've been having and no rain our lawn is just about toast. Toasty, really. It crunches under your feet.  The hounds have one particular dead spot they like to lay in and roll around.

I guess dry grass makes for a good back scratcher. But yesterday not only did the air conditioner actually shut off but we got some rain. Yay! Not as much as we'd like but at least it was something.  Just think, all this just before we start holidays!  

So keep enjoying your summer, try to stay cool and I'll see ya back here in a couple of weeks!

Monday Mischief - The Big Surprise!

If you read my post on Friday the 13th you'd know how lucky we have been lately.  But it didn't stop there. In the comments of that post Caren from Cat Chat With Caren And Cody left a comment saying we had won a prize in Cody's 5th Birthday and Cat Chat's 501 Blog Post Give-Away! Since we were the only doggie winners, Caren said she picked out something special for Fred and Gloria, but it was a surprise.  How nice was that!  We were so excited waiting for it to come and finally last Thursday it arrived!

It said Fans Edge on the side of the box!  What could it be?  Freddie was right in there trying to rip it open.

I had to take the plastic off for Fred. Gloria was right in there too!
"What have you got Freddie?" "Is there something for me?"

Look, it's two stuffies!  One for each of us!"  "Not only that, look at the logo on their shirts Gloria!"

Fred went for Gloria's prize first, just to bug her. Boys....geez!
And the big stuffie.....that's Roary! Detroit Lions Mascot!  Here's a picture of me with Roary at a Detroit Lions game at Ford Field.

How cool is that!
I finally had to step in and give Gloria her prize.

After all it is pink, Gloria's favorite color!

Fred laid on his so Gloria couldn't touch it. They played with them for a bit until Fred started to pull on Roary's hair then I had to intervene and take them away.  These are just too special to be chewed to pieces, so they will be admiring them from afar in the football room!
So you see, it was really Caren who was up to the mischief by keeping it a secret about Fred and Gloria's prize!
We can't thank her and Cody enough for these special prizes from Cody's 5th Birthday and Cat Chat's 501 Blog Post Give-Away!

I also wish Caren a speedy recovery as she's been feeling kind of yucky lately and had some surgery on Friday.